Warm pumpkin and chickpea salad with tahini

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Warm pumpkin and chickpea salad with tahini

Veg

in season


This warm salad has lots of textures and tastes bouncing off each other. Tahini is an oily paste made from pounded sesame seeds. It has a rich, nutty flavour and is used throughout the Middle East.

Ingredients

• 1kg/2¼lb pumpkin or squash, peeled, seeded and cut into cubes
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• ½ tsp ground allspice
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 250g/9oz cooked chickpeas, or 1 x 400g/14oz tin chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• ½ small red onion, finely chopped
• 4 tbsp roughly chopped fresh coriander
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the tahini sauce

• 1 clove garlic, crushed to a paste with salt
• 3½ tbsp lemon juice
• 3 tbsp tahini paste
• 2 tbsp water, to taste
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
2. Toss the pumpkin with the garlic, allspice, olive oil and some salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place on a tray in the oven for about 15-25 minutes or until soft. Remove and cool.
3. While the pumpkin is cooking, make the tahini sauce. Mix the crushed garlic with the lemon juice and add the tahini. Thin with water and olive oil and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. You should taste a balance between the nutty tahini and lemon.
4. To assemble the salad, place the pumpkin, chickpeas, red onion and coriander in a mixing bowl. Pour on the tahini sauce and toss carefully. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and serve.

Required techniques